Stocks on Tuesday gave up most of their gains as worries over the state of the economy disabled the excitement over a potential vaccine for Covid-19.

The 30-share Sensex finished 167.19 points higher after rising more than 700 points during the day.

Global markets rallied over news of successful tests against the coronavirus carried out by biotechnology company Moderna .

The US company said its initial vaccine tests on people have shown promising results and can stimulate an immune response against the virus.

However, after hitting a day’s high of 30739.96, a gain of nearly 711 points, investors began to book profits on lingering concerns over poor economic growth even as the number of coronavirus cases rose in the country. This led to the gauge settling 167.19 points, or 0.56 per cent, higher at 30196.17. On the NSE, the Nifty advanced 55.85 points, or 0.63 per cent, to end at 8879.10.

“Despite the spate of good news in terms of policy measures at the domestic level and an initial success in finding a cure for coronavirus by a US company, the market has failed to build on it,” said Gaurav Dua of Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

He said the market bias remained negative along with continued volatility in the near term.

The brokerage expects Nifty to consolidate in the range of 8200 to 9300 for the next couple of months where stock specific volatility would provide buying opportunities.

In Tuesday’s trading, banks continued to be under pressure because of apprehensions that they may see a surge in bad loans during the year. The Bharti Airtel stock was the highlight of the day as it surged over 11 per cent, following a rise in average revenue per user (ARPU) for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.

Of the Sensex stocks, 22 closed in the green and eight in the red. Sectorally, BSE telecom rallied 10.41 per cent, followed by tech, power, utilities, and auto indices that rose up to 2.49 per cent. Capital goods, energy, realty and banking indices ended lower.

“In India, the confirmed infections crossed the one lakh mark, with no signs of slowing down. Additionally, with the stimulus measures seen to be inadequate to boost demand in the short term, investors need to be cautious in this market as the uncertainties still persist,’’ Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services, said.